All Forum Posts by: Harris Pantlik

Hello BiggerPockets community! I'm Harris and Brooke Pantlik from North Charleston, SC. We are both passionate about real estate investing and have been for the last 5 years. We currently own two (2) STR/MTRs, one (1) LTR, as well as a primary residence in the North Charleston Area (Park Circle). My wife, Brooke Pantlik, manages our 3 rental properties and 4 additional STRs.

We are looking to branch out into the multifamily space and are looking for potential partners.

Outside of real estate, I enjoy going to the gym, fishing and duck hunting.

Excited to learn and connect with you all!

So long story short I purchased two homes on the same lot June 16, 2020. I live in the slightly bigger one and rent the smaller one out to a nice young lady who has been pleasant to deal with.

Fast forward to August 24, 2020, it is raining very hard (3 inches that day) and my tenant calls me and reports water leaking from the floor boards and the laminate flooring is beginning to bubble up.

Upon inspection of the exterior of the house the night of the event, I discover sand bags butting up against the side that were covered by pine straw. I believe this was on of the bandaids performed by the previous owners to mitigate flooding issues. I also noticed a tree with roots that are butting up directly next to the foundation and siding of the house where I believe so far the water intrusion occurred.

I began ripping up floor boards believing this was just a one a time event but to my surprise I discovered a significant amount of mold beneath the plastic and on top of the slab. The mold covers approximately 1/5 of the slab of the house and I am unsure of the condition of the sheet rock.

Upon discovery of the mold I asked my tenant to find some where else to live while I called disaster plus, a mold remediation company to begin the clean up process. They will hopefully be complete with clean up this weekend. I also have a put back contractor coming out Monday to try and get the tenant back in her home while I address the apparent drainage issue I’m experiencing.

I have also begun clearing the root away from the house which has become somewhat of an arduous task since traditional stump grinders do not fit in between my rent house and the neighbors fence. I have also removed two trees that have root systems next to the foundation and I am getting a quote for the third.

I looked back at the disclosure and inspection. In the inspection I don’t see any mention of the 20 sandbags near the foundation but the inspector did have one line stating “marginal- vegetation need to be cut back away from the house as they may damage the side” and “acceptable- drainage”

When I looked back at the disclosure I see where the previous owners have repaired moisture damage in the past by a company called biosweep. The home owners attached the estimate which stated the repairs to water damage. What I found out later after I emailed biosweep, is they included the recommendation in the final invoice to install a French drain system on the side of the home. The final invoice was NOT included in the disclosure. The homeowners also did NOT report the apparent crack in the foundation with pictures that was sealed by biosweep in the estimate.

After speaking with the neighbor who performed the landscaping around the two houses, he told me that in December 2019, around the time of the moisture repair, the previous homeowners decided not to go forth with French drain installation as the cost would be astronomical to remove the trees, stumps and root systems. Instead they installed gutter systems which were relatively clean upon inspection the night of the water intrusion.

I have contacted insurance who has denied my claim and now I guess my only other option is to go legal.

I have contacted a foundation repair specialist that does French drain installation to also come take a look at my issue.

I believe I can get my tenant back in her space by next week but my water intrusion issue could easily happen again if I can’t come up with a quick solution to prevent water from coming into te house. I believe I have a temporary solution of cutting back the roots until the French drain/foundation company can get their hands on the issue.

Any one have any advice?

@kenny Dahill,

Thank you for the quick response and input.  I will use this as basis and post what I end up doing.

Hi All,

I am planning to close on my first rental property tomorrow in North Charleston, SC. I purchased the property with 5% down. It is actually two homes on the same lot that I plan to separate with a fence. I plan to live in the 3bed/2bath home and rent out the ADU (2bed/1bath). I was looking for any advice with finding potential tenants for this property. I was planning to run credit and background checks with application fees but any other advice would be much appreciated. Does any one recommend a credit and background check company to streamline the process?

For tax purposes, I sent over my appraisal to my CPA and we plan to depreciate the ADU and write off as much as we can (i.e. tax, utilities, repairs). I also plan to make the largest room in the large home a home office and write that off. I am all ears for any other tips.

Hi All,

I am new to real estate investing and was curious to see if others have experienced my issue and what they were able to do resolve it.  I am 32 years old with excellent credit and less than 10k in consumer debts (truck note). Last summer I broke off and started consulting independently in the offshore geophysical survey industry and have been self employed coming up on a year now.  Work has been busy and I expect it to continue.  In the period of a year, I have been able to increase my yearly income by 200%, although I am still trading my time for money and I would like to buy my time back with real estate.

When I try to obtain conventional financing, the only way I have been able to get anything done is using a cosignor since I have not been self employed for at least 2 years.  I was ok doing this for my first property as it will be my primary residence in combination with a rental, but I do not want to add any more burden to my cosignor afterwards. Is this where hard money lenders come in to play?  and if so, does anyone have any recommendations for obtaining hard money in the state of South Carolina?  I really don't want to have to wait a whole year to obtain financing for future investments.

Thank you.

-HP

I was looking at this platform to purchase some rental properties and was curious wether anyone has used it.

Hi,

I am moving back to Charleston, SC from Louisiana and I am looking to get into rentals, preferably duplexes. 

I work in the oil and gas and telecommunications industry as a geoscientist and some of my work is offshore.  I usually spend 5-7 months away from home and during my time that I am home I would like to develop a rental portfolio so I don't have to go offshore when I am in my 40s.

I have some cash saved up and I am ready to make the move.

Thanks,

Harris Pantlik